jj n° 3

Cosmopolitan Swedish group follows a record that took cues from Balearic dance, bookish indie pop, and hip-hop into a heavy-lidded stunner.

We knew next to nothing about Swedish duo jj when their debut arrived last summer, but it hardly mattered because the music communicated so much on its own. jj n° 2 was a cosmopolitan record that took its cues from a variety of genres-- Balearic dance, bookish indie pop, and hip-hop-- but put them together in classic Swedish fashion with loads of hooks. It was breezy without being drifty, humorous without being goofy, and even tender and romantic when it needed to be. The production was effortlessly bouyant-- its tropical synths and stuttering beats propping up cooing vocals-- and even during a season that saw no shortage of balmy sounds, the album still felt like a warm gust of Mediterranean air.

Since then jj have revealed their identities (Joakim Benon and Elin Kastlander from Gothenburg, it turns out) and after justifiably wide praise for jj n° 2, moved from boutique imprint Sincerely Yours to the larger Secretly Canadian. And even though it's only been about eight months since their debut was released, jj already have the follow-up, jj n° 3, ready to go. It isn't clear what prompted them to put the album out so quickly (maybe they wanted to capitalize on all the attention, maybe they're just prolific songwriters) but despite a couple of memorable tracks, jj n° 3 is uniformly worse than its predecessor and a curious step down for the group.

Song to song, the album lacks the charm and melodies of jj n° 2, but even on a general level there's a tonal shift here that doesn't suit jj well. Instead of narcotized, sun-drenched pop, the duo have embraced a softer, bleary sound that at worst feels almost New Age-y or Enya-esque. It's a bit like the detour fellow Swede El Perro Del Mar took with her second album, From the Valley to the Stars, in which she embraced darker, more somber textures to mixed effect. As fans, we of course expect artists to explore new styles, and the party line on jj n° 3 is that it's intended to be a winter record instead of a summer one; the problem here is that the album simply sounds adrift. With wispy, beat-less production, tracks like "And Now" and "Light" are slight-- the type of songs you hear and then instantly forget.

The record does have its moments, but they don't come often. One of the endearing things about jj n° 2 was its use of chart hip-hop, most notably the druggy Lil Wayne semi-cover "Ecstasy". They repeat that trick on opener "My Life", copping Wayne's verse from the Game song of the same title. It's not as cute the second time around, but there's still something appealing about hearing Kastlander sing lyrics like, "They say you ain't grindin' until you die," in her honey-coated vocal manner. Late in the record, the perky "You Know" also stands up to the quality of jj n° 2, but between these tracks is mostly B-side fare. It's a shame, but I don't get the sense listening to jj n° 3 that jj's best work is behind them. Let's hope this is a temporary setback.